November Senior of the Month recognized
By Morgan Rutledge
November’s senior of the month is Brogan Green, son of Polly and Kevin Green. Brogan has immersed himself in extracurriculars through his participation in FCCLA, National Honor Society, Interact Club, P.L.U.S club, and the youth group at Marysville Church of Nazarene. Within these activities Brogan has learned selflessness and has nurtured his enthusiasm for giving back to his community. Similarly, Brogan has dedicated vast amounts of time to several of the sports teams at Fairbanks. He was the running back and strong safety for the football team and sprints runner on the track and field team. Additionally, he has taken the initiative to start a personal business, Brogan’s Lawn Care, where he gained valuable insight on financial management and networking. After high school, Brogan plans to attend Columbus State Community College where he is leaning towards a degree in business.
FHS adds College Credit Plus courses options
By Grace Stice
During the 2022-2023 school year Fairbanks added many new courses to the course listings, including in-house College Credit Plus options. This includes different math classes taught by Ms. Court, such as CCP Statistics and CCP Algebra. Fairbanks is also offering two new courses that compare quite differently to the typical general education classes that are offered. The two new courses are CCP Educational Technology and CCP Introduction to Education. Currently only CCP Introduction to Education is being taught in the classroom, but the faculty hopes to have both classes running next year. Both classes are under the supervision of Dr. Diane Smeenk, who teaches her college courses every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In these classes students learn about different philosophies and approaches to an education degree, along with how classrooms are designed to function. Currently in CCP Introduction to Education students are learning about different curriculum, standards, and assessments. Aside from gaining college credit, students are able to observe Fairbanks teachers and better understand the context of teaching in real life situations.
These courses allow new opportunities for growth and the chance to explore different career types before they transfer out of high school, all while allowing students to prepare for their future education.
Field trip taken to Avalon Theatre
Speech from motivational speaker heard
By Haley Julian
On Wednesday, November 16th, sixteen FHS students traveled to the Avalon Theatre in Marysville, where they had the undeniable pleasure of listening to and meeting the motivational speaker and businessman Kris Mathis.
Mathis spoke about how he became successful and shared his six steps to success, explaining each step along the way.
He taught these steps smoothly and concisely to the crowd.
Throughout the presentation, the students were given valuable insight into how they can become successful and follow their dreams.
Following the presentation, the students were able to meet him and then walked to Whit’s Frozen Custard as a treat.
FFA Chapter attends National Convention
By Julie Headings
The Fairbanks FFA chapter attended the 95th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana from October 26th to the 28th. Twenty chapter members represented Fairbanks and had the chance to meet with other FFA members around the country and had the chance to bond with one another. Members attended two general sessions which included keynote speaker, Tamika Catchings, who talked about being B.O.L.D. by Believing, being Open to change, Leading with Love, and Daring to be remarkable. Fairbanks Alumni Kaleb Boyd, Linsey Eddy, Bayleigh Miller, and Wyatt Rausch received their American Degrees which is the highest honor attainable to FFA members. The FFA members had a lot of fun at the convention and look forward to the Career Development Events taking place in the next couple of months.
NHS fund-raises for Operation Christmas Child
By Elaina Lahmers
Operation Christmas Child is a nationwide fundraiser that the Samaritan’s Purse foundation puts on each year in order to give children in other countries Christmas gifts that they would not receive otherwise. People who want to help donate simply pack shoe boxes with items from a gift recommendation sheet, and then send it in to be processed and distributed. This year students of the National Honor Society held a bake sale to raise money to purchase items for the shoe boxes. With the help of various club members, Mr. Powell, Dr. Smeenk, Mrs. Reed, and the Lahmers family, they were able to package and send 10 shoe boxes.
Students revive the Haunted Hallway
By Tara Rice
On the night of October 22nd Fairbanks’ revival of the Haunted Hallway took place with the theme of Terrifying Toys. People of all ages from the community came to enjoy the festive night in both Friendly Fright– a walk-through for the younger participants– and Night of Fright– which was designated to all those who cared for a scare. Through the collaboration of the school’s NJHS and NHS chapters, props such as bloody barbie dolls and black-out rooms were built along with creepy costumes of clowns and other toys to truly enliven the haunting aspect of this year’s theme. Filled with both smiles and scares, the night brought forth a successful $1200 in profit and was overall a frighteningly festive experience for Halloween.
Members prepare to celebrate National FFA Week
By Aubrey Burns
The Fairbanks FFA has had many events and a very busy month ahead. They closed out their annual fruit sale with higher numbers than last year. They then ended their annual food drive with great participation and a great outcome. Sophomore, Hannah Sullivan placed 3rd at District 6 job interview contest. A meeting was held on November 10th in which upcoming events were discussed including the annual caroling with the FCCLA and NHS and the Christmas party to be held on December 8th. The chapter will be caroling at area assisted living centers. They also discussed the pancake breakfast and National FFA week which will be coming up in a couple months. The next couple months will be thrilling and full of events and members can’t wait to see the smiles on people’s faces when the fruit orders are delivered to family and friends.
Blood Drive hosted at Middle School
By Brogan Green
On Friday October 21, Fairbanks partnered with the American Red Cross for a blood drive that took place in the Fairbanks Middle School gym. Members of National Honor Society took time during their study halls to help check in and register eager donors as they entered the gym. The event was a huge success due to people’s willingness to participate. There were over 35 people who came in to donate.
The NHS would like to thank all the students, staff and community members who came in and took advantage of this tremendous opportunity to help save lives through the simple act of blood donation. To those not able to participate this time around due to sports and other limiting factors, they can take advantage of the next opportunity on January 10th and in so doing, help save lives.